Product Description

Pacific Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) is a versatile edible seaweed with a subtly sweet flavor and is most often served in soups and salads. Pacific Wakame is the perfect choice for your natural pantry for its ready-to-use convenience.

Wakame is ready-to-eat and can be tossed right out of the bag into miso soup. Because of its superior alkalinity, wakame is extremely beneficial in helping to maintain the alkaline/acid balance necessary for a healthy human body.

Pacific Wakame is grown on nets hung between posts secured on the shallow ocean bottom off the northern shore of the Shandong Peninsula in North China, the closest point to Japan in China. The wakame spores attach themselves to the nets naturally so no actual cultivation is necessary and no fertilizer or herbicide is used.

This healing sea algae is naturally packed with a wide range organic minerals including iron, calcium, magnesium, and a broad spectrum of trace minerals. Additionally, it is high in detoxifying antioxidants, protein, vitamins, and is a good source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. It has been used for blood purification, intestinal strength, skin, hair, reproductive organs and menstrual regularity.

MORE INTERESTING INFO ON WAKAME: Starting in the 1960s, the word “wakame” started to be used widely in the United States, and the product (imported in dried form from Japan) became widely available at natural food stores and Asian-American grocery stores, due to the influence of the macrobiotic movement, and in the 1970s with the growing number of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars.

Wakame fronds are green and have a subtly sweet flavour and satiny texture. The leaves should be cut into small pieces as they will expand during cooking. In Japan and Europe, wakame is distributed either dried or salted, and used in soups (particularly miso soup), and salads (tofu salad), or often simply as a side dish to tofu and a salad vegetable like cucumber. These dishes are typically dressed with soy sauce and vinegar/rice vinegar.

Goma wakame, also known as seaweed salad, is a popular side dish at American and European sushi restaurants. Literally translated, it means “sesame seaweed”, as sesame seeds are usually included in the recipe.

Wakame is a rich source of eicosapentaenoic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid. At over 400 mg/100 kcal or almost 1 mg/kJ, it has one of the higher nutrient: calorie ratios for this nutrient, and among the very highest for a vegetarian source. A typical 1-2 tablespoon serving of wakame contains roughly 3.75–7.5 kcal and provides 15–30 mg of omega-3 fatty acids. Wakame also has high levels of sodium, calcium, iodine, thiamine and niacin.

Wakame studies conducted at Hokkaido University found a compound in wakame known as fucoxanthin can help burn fatty tissue. Wakame is also used in topical beauty treatments. See also Fucoidan.